Michaela Alexis

Trim LinkedIn Connections for Better Algorithmic Reach

If you've been on LinkedIn for a few years, you probably need to delete some connections. Ok, weird, I know. I usually teach people how to grow their community, not shrink it, but this is something I haven't heard a single person talk about yet. Here's (in a very general nutshell), how the LinkedIn algorithm works... When you post content on LinkedIn, they don't just send it to all your connections, I don't know if you knew that! Instead, they test it with a very small segment to see if it's relevant before sending it out to more and more people. This is why engagement pods 冷 have become a big issue that LinkedIn is trying to tackle. But engagement pods truly are a bandaid because they only work as long as your pod is active. It's a hack, not a strategy. I'm all about actual long term strategy! So what does deleting connections have to do with all this? I started posting on LinkedIn back in 2016, when an article I wrote went viral. My number of connections exploded overnight. Great, right? NO, it's actually NOT great 藍 , and here's why. The first few years that you gain traction and your connections are fresh are great because they engage with your content if they're part of that small segment. But, as time goes on, you know what happens? People fall off. They stop using LinkedIn. Their interests change. They retire. Just like an email list can go stale, your connections can too! So, what I've been doing is manually going through my connections. I check two things... First, when I connected with them. If it's back in 2016 and we've never chatted, that's a clue that we aren't really "connected". Second, I check their activity section. If they haven't ever posted, commented...had any sort of activity on LinkedIn, they are removed. It usually look for activity at least within the past year. If you aren't sure if they're active, you could also send a message and see if you get a response. Because here's the thing. If they aren't active, your content might be getting judged by people who will never see it. And that absolutely pulls your reach down. And once you clean things up, make sure you're intentionally adding the right people back in so your message actually gets to the audiences that matter now. If you read this and thought, "Okay… I definitely need to fix my LinkedIn before 2026 hits," I opened a handful of holiday-rate LinkedIn sessions before I head out on mat leave. They're perfect if you want: ☕ a profile refresh ☕ a content strategy you can actually stick to ☕ or help tightening up your presence so the right people finally see you They're booking fast (HUGE thank you to everybody that has been filling up my calendar so far!! Wow! ), so if you want one before January, grab a spot here: https://lnkd.in/e3MCwR6F